Here is my review of Adam's concert on NYE in Bali.

Review of Adam’s concert at the Mulia Hotel in Bali on New Year’s Eve.
(This is only my perspective – all the other attendees will obviously have their own viewpoint.)

Plans.
Let’s start from the beginning. My husband and I bought tickets for this event as soon as they went on sale. We bought Platinum tickets which cost us around $1750 US. They were supposed to guarantee us front of house. We were on holiday in Bali in October and decided to go and check out the venue and the plans for the evening. I was concerned about how they were going to handle security and ensure that the three levels of ticket holders kept to their rightful area. (There was a difference of more than 200 US dollars between silver and platinum tickets.) The young girl handling this said security would ensure that everyone sat down and stayed in their correct area. I advised her that this is not how Adam’s concerts work and that he likes to see people up and dancing and to feel the audience close so he can feed off them. I advised them to have a rethink about how it should be organised.

I met the girl again on New Year’s Eve morning when she delivered our tickets. She said that Adam had taken one look at their plans and made significant changes. One of these was insisting that the food be outside of the ballroom. I also noticed from the seating plan that a dance floor area had been created. I asked again how they would prevent people from the back rushing forward and she again said they would have to stay at their tables. What??I pretty much knew then what was coming and decided that if people started moving up to the stage I would go too and fast.

The night itself.

The ballroom was decorated beautifully. It looked so glamorous and glitzy. The Mulia is a 6 star hotel and the brand is noted for its opulence. I noticed that the ballroom area had been significantly reduced by means of a divider to make the area more intimate. The food was indeed served in the anti-room and there was a dance floor in front of the platinum tables. Worryingly they had provided very noisy blowers in the shape of saxophones. I was concerned that these might be distracting when Adam performed mainly as a lot of the guests were not in fact Adam fans but were simply there for the NYE event. Which brings me to the guests…

The guests.

There were around 440 people at the event. Most of them were simply there for the hotel’s NYE party and had no idea who Adam was. But there was a significant group of Glamberts from around the world. Some of the Indonesian Glamberts were there, others had flown in from the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Portugal, Malaysia and China. I met a delightful TV producer from Shanghai who I had seen in a photo with Adam when he was last there.

The concert itself.

Before Adam was due on, an announcement was made that we were to stay in our seats for the concert. Yeah right I thought.

Adam was supposed to come on at 11pm, sing until midnight and then do the countdown. By 11.30 he was still not onstage and we were getting anxious that we might only get a half hour set. While people were waiting they started blowing these hideous saxophone blowers and the place sounded like a seal colony. I was thinking that Adam would not like this at all – it was a dreadful din.

Eventually he came on stage and the place erupted. He looked gorgeous in his blue suit. He sang three numbers and most of us politely sat as instructed and the Glamberts sang along, while the others looked at us in astonishment because we knew all the words. Two Glamberts on my table stood and danced. I didn’t stand because there were two small children on our table who had come from Malaysia to see him and it would have blocked their view. I only stood at the end of each song to applaud. It felt so wrong for an Adam concert. You could see that Adam was concerned at the lack of ability to see and interact with his audience with us all sitting some distance away around tables. It was making him like a wedding singer. They had a bright spotlight on him which was blinding him and he was trying to see beyond it out to us. After the second song (I think) he asked them to dim the spot so he could see us. They did this and he started to look around at us. He then began to spot Glamberts in the audience. After the third song he first commented on how pretty we all looked and then said you can come down here and dance if you want. Of course there was a stampede of Glamberts and, so as not to get stuck behind them, my hubby and I went up too. We made it to the front right in front of Adam. The next fifteen minutes or so were nothing short of magical and he was ON FIRE! After one more song (I think) Adam went offstage to change and reappeared to AYGGWM. That was so much fun. He was wearing a black leather vest and long leather gauntlets and you could see the new tattoo very clearly - and the freckles  Oh and he had pants on too – haha – they had leather diagonal strips around them. He had the words of AYGGWM on the stage and was trying to read them but was having difficulty. He tried to bend down to read them but they were too close to the edge of the stage and lots of the young fans were grabbing for him. I jokingly pretended to push the words nearer him and he nodded indicating he wanted me to do this. However they were stuck fast to the floor of the stage. He gave up and winged it, deliberately rolling backwards on the floor and then kicking his legs up in the air. Talk about a bird’s eye view! This happened right in front of me.

We were having a great time, up close and personal with him. Lots of eye contact and hand-holding. Then security started to move in. (Apparently the CEO of the Mulia got complaints from some of the very influential non fans who were still sitting and she got security to intervene.)Someone called out to Adam that security were trying to force us back to our seats. Adam suggested we move to either side if we were blocking other ppl’s views. That fell on stony ground. It wouldn’t have helped anyway as there were as many people to the sides as in front. Security then got very heavy-handed. One man put his arm across my bust and pushed me backwards. I got angry with him and had words with him about this but then realised that Adam was in the middle of WWFM. I stopped and looked up and Adam was a metre from me and was looking down at me and the security man with concern/annoyance. I felt terrible for arguing while he was singing but was outraged by the security man’s rudeness.

Well eventually Adam realised security meant to clear us and so asked us to sit down. We did as we were told but as this was happening one young girl jumped onto the stage and latched onto Adam. She was removed instantly.

Then Adam realised we were two minutes off midnight. He floundered around wondering what to do for that time and decided to come into the audience and talk to people. As he was doing this he said “This is a nightmare”. I felt sorry for him – it all seemed a bit out of control and messy and so unlike how he usually has everything orchestrated. I walked across and gave him a glass of champagne which he seemed grateful for. He then moved to a far corner and interviewed a girl and received embarrassing monosyllabic answers in return. He asked her about her year and she talked weakly about having fun with friends but would not be drawn out. Poor Adam! He should have interviewed me!!!!!!!!I could have told him how one of my highlights had been Queenbert in London. Oh well!

Then he noticed that it was close to midnight so he jumped back on the stage and we counted down. As Auld Lang Syne (sp?) played he sang along so beautifully but admitted he didn’t know the words. He put the mic to one lady who successfully murdered the song. Sorry ma-am if you get to read this.

Then the concert continued. He sat down and sang “Is This Love?” People began to edge back towards the stage but security was red hot. A crowd of young fans were in front of the stage but with a bank of security men standing shoulder to shoulder in front of them. I eventually convinced the security guard to ease off where we were and we managed to move to the corner of the stage. The concert continued and Adam went off while the Divas sang Kickin In. When he returned he had that fabulous tassled outfit on a black top hat and bare feet. He went into a medley of some of my faves including Strut and Fever. He also sang Hot Stuff which was great and Fame. The set list showed that he was supposed to sing Broken English and Outlaws of Love but he dropped both of these I guess because of a) time issues and, more critically, b) they would have slowed the party down. At one point he had a go at security and let the girls in front break through to touch his hand.

I got the feeling that he wasn’t comfortable during most of the concert because of how it had been organised. He did do an encore (Trespassing - wearing that wonderful yellow and black jacket) which surprised me because I felt he just wanted it over with. But you could sense at the end he was glad it was done. It was noticeable that he tweeted he was ramped up before the gig but no such tweet followed it.

Normally when I leave an Adam concert I am on Cloud Nine. This time I felt rather sad because of the mess that surrounded it all. Those few minutes when we were up front were magical but it all got messed up by security/the hotel. No doubt the kids who paid for the cheaper tickets were happy in that they got a good deal compared to us. As for the other guests there for NYE – who knows what they thought - many were on comp tickets anyway. Oh well, I must count myself lucky that I was able to be there and saw him over two years in one concert - 2012 and 2013.

I am still beating myself up that I argued with a security man while he was singing WWFM – I wish I could erase that moment - how disrespectful!

But at the end of the day he looked wonderful, sounded fabulous and was the consummate professional. And his voice was red hot – he hit some money notes like never before. Bravo Adam! |But you deserved a better organised venue. I am sure they paid you well but I am also sure you want the satisfaction of seeing your audience 100% happy and not messed with. Maybe it would be a good idea for his management to check these things out better in future. I could clearly predict what was going to transpire, so surely they must have too.

Happy New Year to one and all and onward and upward Adam Lambert!

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